Shayera Hol, formerly known on Earth as Hawkgirl, was one of the founding members of the Justice League, and a member of the Thanagarian military. She played a key role in the Thanagarian invasion on both sides. She is also the mother of Justice League member Warhawk. Hawkgirl is a sassy, very fiery, and considerably aggressive person who exhibits a wild temperament but nonetheless fights on the side of good.

Contents

History

Coming to Earth

"I came to this planet as a patriot. I had a mission and I carried it out...what I couldn't know, was that I would come to care for the Earth and her people, that I'd come to care for all of you."[3]

Shayera Hol was a lieutenant and an instructor in espionage on the planet Thanagar, engaged to be married to Thangarian Commander Hro Talak. She was sent in advance of the Thanagarian invasion as a scout to determine Earths weaknesses should Thanagar's enemies, the Gordanians, attack.[4] Her cover story was that she was tracking criminals to their fortress when she was unexpectedly teleported to Earth.[5]

Shayera eventually established herself on Earth and became known to the populace as Hawkgirl. During the Imperium invasion, Hawkgirl was telepathically summoned by J'onn J'onzz to assist in repelling the invaders. Hawkgirl was teamed with Superman to take out the aliens' factories, which propelled smoke into the air to block out the sun. They were unsuccessful and were both captured.[6] J'onn, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern attempted to rescue the two but were themselves captured. The six heroes were held for the alien invaders leader. After Batman had successfully infiltrated the factory and reversed the smoke process, the group was able to free themselves and destroy the factory and its duplicates around the world. In fact, Hawkgirl was responsible for destroying the Imperium when he attempted to escape on board his personal shuttle craft.

Due to her efforts during the invasion, Hawkgirl was invited aboard the Watchtower, and formed the Justice League along with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and J'onn.[7]

Hawkgirl was once teleported, along with Martian Manhunter, John Stewart and Flash to a world of superheroes set in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century. There, she endured constant sexist actions due to her gender. She and one of the heroes from this dimension named Green Guardsman stopped a villain called Music Master.[13] She teamed up with the rest of the Justice League and the Justice Guild to fight Ray Thompson once he revealed his true intentions of evil and the Justice Guild ceased to exist.[14]

During one such mission, after tracking Solomon Grundy and Aquaman to Dr. Fate, she discovered Fate's connection to Thanagar.[15] Along with Superman and Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl discovered that Ichthultu, once worshiped on Thanagar as a god, had come to Earth. Fate, Superman, Wonder Woman, Grundy and Hawkgirl traveled to Ichthultu's world. There, Hawkgirl developed an unlikely friendship with Grundy, which was short-lived. After Grundy successfully entered Ichthultu's bowels and killed a monster inside, he was rendered immobilized. Hawkgirl followed him and finished Grundy's job for him, killing Ichthultu with a strike from her magic-disrupting mace. Grundy died in her arms shortly afterwards. However, she couldn't understand why he was happy at the end, to which Aquaman replied that it was faith.[16]

During her time with the League, Hawkgirl developed a deep relationship with fellow member John Stewart, despite their constant bickering. During Joker's bomb threat on Las Vegas, John rescued Hawkgirl and sacrificed himself in an explosion. His power ring's aura protected him, but the shock stopped his heart. With her mace, Hawkgirl restarted it and brought him back to the Watchtower against Batman's orders. After giving John proper medical treatment, she agreed to stay with him overnight on the Watchtower to make sure he recuperated. John woke up and the two discussed their relationship. Hawkgirl was against it going any further, though John eventually brought her round to the idea. Her mask was finally removed, exposing her true face for the first time in the series. John and Shayera shared a kiss at the end.[17]

Betrayal

"Five years ago, we secretly sent an advance agent to Earth to learn more about your people and study your defenses. That agent was Lieutenant Shayera Hol. Better known to you as Hawkgirl."
— Hro Talak[4]

After a Gordanian vessel was shot down by the Thanagarians over Washington D.C., Hawkgirl's mission on Earth was complete. She had sent all of the data she had collected on Earth and the Justice League to the Thanagarians. It was determined that Earth would not be safe from a Gordanian attack and so construction began on a force field generator to protect the Earth, overseen by Thanagarian Paran Dul. Hawkgirl was then revealed to the entire planet as a spy. To make matters worse, especially for John Stewart, she revealed that she was engaged to the Thanagarians' commander, Hro Talak. These revelations created a rift between her and her teammates and caused significant damage to her relationship with John Stewart.
Hawkgirl was firm in her duty to Thanagar and believed that the Thanagarians were acting in Earth's best interests.

Lieutenant Shayera Hol.

When the Justice League resisted the occupation of Earth, she chose duty to her homeworld over loyalty to her League mates. The League was captured using Shayera's report of their weaknesses against them. When only John Stewart remained standing, Shayera chose duty over love, and rendered him unconscious with her mace as he was trying to appeal to her emotions.[4]
Within days of the League's escape, Shayera discovered the Thanagarians' true intentions. The device they were building was not a force field generator, but a Hyperspace Bypass Generator. The generator would create a wormhole in hyperspace, allowing the Thangarian armada to jump behind the Gordanians' defenses and attack their homeworld directly. This would destroy the Earth and everyone on it. Shayera stole this information and handed it directly to Bruce Wayne. She then returned John Stewart's power ring. Her betrayal was quickly discovered by Hro Talak's right-hand man, Kragger, and she was imprisoned. Talak then realized that Shayera was not in love with him but with John.

Shayera was offered the chance to be released and pardoned for her treason, if she admitted that she did not love John. Shayera refused. Commenting that if he truly loved her, then he'd spare the Earth. During Shayera's imprisonment, the League made their assault on the armada and their captured Watchtower. When Wonder Woman infiltrated the vessel, she bitterly released Shayera. Shayera picked up a Thanagarian warriors discarded mace and flew off to confront Hro Talak.
Shayera found Talak in the control room for the Bypass Generator's force field as he was about to kill John. Shayera successfully stopped his assault and turned his aggression on her. Shayera lost the fight and was pinned to a wall by Talak's energy axe. After Shayera begged him to spare the Earth, he simply slammed the back of the energy axe into her, giving her an almost deadly shock and then discarded her by throwing her across the room. John Stewart

then resumed the fight with Talak. After defeating Talak, Stewart was too injured to operate the lever to deactivate the force field. Shayera had awoken and assisted him, placing her hands over his and helping to pull the lever down and thus enabling the destruction of the Bypass Generator.

With the generator's destruction, the Thangarians left Earth. However, Shayera's status in the Justice League had been called to question. With the Watchtower destroyed, the League took shelter in Wayne Manor and set about debating Hawkgirl's future with the organization. The other six members of the League discussed and voted inside Wayne Manor. Alfred Pennyworth, the Wayne family butler, served tea to Shayera and provided his own small words of encouragement; stating that she was indeed a hero because she made a great personal sacrifice to save Earth. Shayera took comfort in this. Shayera was called in, but she never gave them a chance to tell her the conclusion they had come to—she voluntarily resigned from the League. The Flash hugged her warmly as a goodbye and Shayera accepted it showing emotion to her friend. Before leaving, however, she told John that she loved him and never lied about that. It is unknown if she heard his words to her: I love you too... [3]

Return

"Hawkgirl was never dismissed from the League. She can come back whenever she likes."
— John Stewart[18]

Shayera had nowhere to go. She did say, however, that she'd go to a place where there were no secrets and no lies. She eventually found refuge with the mysterious Dr. Fate and his wife, Inza.[19] During her time with them, she'd have a chance to contemplate her choices. However, weeks turned to months and she still could not recuperate from the invasion. It wasn't until Solomon Grundy had been raised from the dead by a dark magical ritual gone wrong that she'd take up her mace again. Supercharged by dark chaos magic, Solomon Grundy went on a rampage and proved to be unstoppable, even against the combined might of John Stewart, Vixen, Superman, Aquaman, Dr. Fate, and the android Amazo. Shayera's mace was the only object on Earth capable of stopping the monster due to Nth metal's magic-disrupting properties. Regrettably, she was forced to euthanize Grundy in the sewers, which he allowed, so that the creature would know peace at last.

When emerging from below, Shayera was confronted by a group of news reporters. One of the questions that was raised was her dismissal from the League. John Stewart revealed that she was never dismissed from the League, which was news to Shayera herself as she never bothered to ask. John told Shayera that he recused himself from the vote due to his personal feelings for her, resulting in a 3-2 vote in favor of retaining her League membership. Superman admitted that he cast the tie-breaking vote despite his distrust after the invasion because he still believes in Shayera. Shayera's return to the outside world was not only greeted by reporters, but detractors were at the scene as well. However, Shayera was also warmly thanked by the family she saved earlier in the episode, which gave her a much needed hopeful smile.[18]

Shayera did return to the Justice League and was welcomed back to the founding members council. However, she would not be present at trials such as that of Doomsday.[20] Furthermore, although Shayera returned to her life as a superhero, she never again wore her old Hawkgirl outfit and headdress and insisted on being addressed as "Shayera", not "Hawkgirl".[21] As for her relationship with John Stewart, it was not rekindled immediately. During her time away from the League, Stewart had started seeing new Justice League member, Vixen.

Not only was there conflict with Vixen over John Stewart but with Batman and, particularly, Wonder Woman.[22] The Amazon warrior reluctantly let Shayera join the team again, however would hold a grudge against Shayera until she was forced to take Shayera along to Themyscira and Tartarus due to Felix Faust's return and his usurping of Hades' throne. During this mission, Shayera and Wonder Woman settled their differences once and for all.[23]

However, Shayera still met conflict with Vixen. Once, they, along with Vigilante, were assigned to a rescue mission on a distant moon where alien miners were having problems due to the supposed high levels of unstable Nth metal. However, it turned out to be a trap set by Paran Dul, who was leading a group of Thanagarians soldiers including the mentally disabled Kragger. During their confrontation on the moon, Paran revealed that Shayera's betrayal had led to Thanagar's defeat by the Gordanians and that Hro Talak had been killed while fighting back. A distressed Shayera was tempted to turn herself in and let them pass judgment on her, but Vixen and Vigilante refused to let her go.

Shayera even offered to surrender in exchange for Vixen who had been captured by the Thanagarians but then fought back when they almost killed Vixen by dropping her from mid-air. The Thanagarians were defeated and the three League members stole a Thanagarian Scout Ship and returned to the Watchtower. Upon their arrival, John Stewart rushed over to both Vixen and Shayera, but they walked straight past, implying that they were going to settle their dispute over him. Stewart feared the worse, but they merely laughed over drinks during which the two women discussed his quirks and habits. Shayera did reveal that she still loved him while Vixen revealed that he still loved Shayera and that she just wanted to see things through until the end. They agreed to a friendly contest for his affections, with a toast to en garde.[21]

John Stewart and Shayera Hol after pulling Flash from the Speed Force.

At the conclusion of the Cadmus crisis, when Lex Luthor and Brainiac merged, Shayera and the founding members were faced with their Justice Lords counterparts. Shayera's drone belittled her, saying that nobody trusted her, and everyone despised her on both Earth and Thanagar. The Hawkgirl drone was eventually crushed, with pleasure, by John Stewart who was letting off steam for his broken heart. Shayera returned the favor by casually decaptitating John's own duplicate with a simple, "likewise, I'm sure".

When the League was defeated by the combination of Brainiac and Luthor, The Flash ran around the world, faster than he has ever gone, slamming hit after hit into the cyborg. When Brainiac was finally driven from Luthor, Flash had generated so much speed, he was absorbed into the mysterious Speed Force. Shayera was the one who located the extra-dimensional portal and was able to grab hold of Flash's arm. With the assistance of the six other members, the League pulled Flash back to their reality.[2]

Mysterious past

With Luthor behind bars, the League reformed itself yet again by building the Metro Tower. During a mission with John Stewart, Vixen and Batman, Shayera met Carter Hall, an archaeologist, whom had studied ancient ruins in Egypt. What he discovered was a weapon from Thanagar. The two agreed to discuss the weapon over dinner, much to John's disapproval. Before Shayera began her date with Hall, Batman revealed that Carter had been following Shayera on several different occasions like a stalker. Shayera grew angry at both Batman and John Stewart for not trusting her and left them with "don't wait up". And of course, Shayera meant it, as she would put that Carter "didn't miss the dress last night".

Carter brought Shayera to the ruins and showed her ancient hieroglyphs that showed Thanagarian ancestry. After venturing deep inside the Egyptian tomb, he revealed that he really didn't need her to translate anything. He changed into a harness with wings attached and put a Thanagarian helmet on, proclaiming himself Hawkman. Shayera didn't take him seriously though and simply laughed at both him and her (for having the worst taste in men and not listening to Batman and Stewart—who she know will say "told you so"). Hawkman showed her an ancient Thanagarian vessel as well as a device known as an Asbsorbacron, the very item he touched and discovered that he was the reincarnation of a man named Katar Hol and after this discovery, he changed his name from Joseph Gardner to Carter Hall. He believed that Shayera was the reincarnation of Katar's wife, Chay-Ara Hol, and urged her to also touch the Absorbacron. However, she denied his request by flipping him over her shoulders and into the vessel. Hawkgirl's claim was that the Asbsorbacron was old, broken, and/or too much for a human mind to handle. At this very point, their follower had revealed himself. The Shadow Thief captured both in pursuit of stealing the treasures inside the tomb. Carter agreed as long as he didn't hurt Shayera. Carter was then stopped when their second follower revealed himself: Batman. Shadow Thief caused the tombs traps to engage. While Shayera, Hawkman and Batman battled the tomb's booby-trapped mummies, Shadow Thief took advantage of the situation by stealing the tomb's treasures until Shayera flew in and energized her mace, causing the Shadow Thief to retreat into the ground. However, due to the damage done to the tomb, they too were forced to retreat. However, Hawkman attempted to save the Asbsorbacron. Shayera was able to stop him and brought him back up to the surface. Hawkman flew off but claimed that Shayera would come around eventually and see that it was their destiny to be with each other. Despite her claims that the memories Carter Hall had received were the result of an overwhelmed mind or broken Thanagarian technology she wondered deep down if he was right. Of course, Batman only said, "If you really believe that..."[25]

Hawkman would show up once again when John Stewart was captured by the Shadow Thief, threatening he'd be back for the "Thanagarian harpy". The two paid a visit to the Midway City Museum, Carter Hall's workplace, to get some clues to the Shadow Thief's whereabouts. They discovered that the Shadow Thief beat them there and had John hung up. Shayera attacked the Shadow Thief while Vixen attempted to release John. Vixen was thrown under piles of fossil debris. Hawkman came to her rescue when Shadow Thief attempted to murder Vixen. Shayera and Hawkman attacked the Shadow Thief again. Shadow Thief was restrained when Shayera wrapped a whip around him. However, Hawkman did not take his chance to get the Shadow Thief. Both ended up captured. When Shayera woke up, Hawkman and John were positioned around the thought-to-be-buried Asbsorbacron. Shadow Thief forced them all to touch it simultaneously and a past story was revealed: Chay-Ara fell out of love with Katar and fell in love with Egyptian General Bashari, John Stewart's previous incarnation. Chay-Ara and Bashari were poisoned by the priest Hath-Set. Katar discovered their bodies and committed suicide, clenching his dead wife's hand. Everything became clear: Shadow Thief revealed himself to be Hawkman's darkest thoughts and unspeakable desires- a sort of "id" to Hawkman's "superego". The Shadow Thief entity was released when Carter first touched the Asbsorbacron. The Shadow Thief then freed Carter and ordered him to finish John Stewart off, claiming he was the only one standing between him and Shayera. Instead, Carter destroyed the bonds of John who freed Shayera. Carter then fought the Shadow Thief and was able to "bring" the villain back into his own self. Hawkman apologized to Shayera for his behavior. He realized that they weren't meant for each other and so left her to end the story the way it's supposed to be ended.

John and Shayera then discussed things at the Watchtower. John Stewart revealed that he and Batman went to the future and met a man named Warhawk, who was his and Shayera's son.[26][27] Shayera showed happiness with this information as it meant they could still be together. However, despite the knowledge of their future incarnations and the birth of their son, John refused to be destiny's puppet and stayed with Mari. John confessed to Shayera that he will never say that he didn't love her and if they do get back together it will be their own choice. Shayera gave John an angry look at his stubbornness before going to see Batman. At the end of these events, while Batman was working, she was last seen sitting down and saying, "Tell me about my son".[24]

Shayera continued to serve with the League, with missions such as Ace warping reality with the new Royal Flush Gang[28] and Darkseid's return. However, it is unknown how or even when Shayera and John Stewart reconciled and Shayera gave birth to Rex Stewart.

Powers and abilities

Hawkgirl ready to smash.

Like all modern Thanagarians, Shayera Hol had a pair of wings growing from her back which allowed her to fly through the atmosphere of planets at least close to Earth's gravity; it is not known how much gravity would actually ground her. As a Thanagarian, she had considerable physical strength, endurance and durability.

As a former member of the Thanagarian military, she had extensive training in tactics, military science, and personal combat skills. Additionally, her focus in espionage could make her a difficult opponent to track, and provided her teammates with an advantage when tracking villains.

Hawkgirl was incredibly skilled in martial arts. Single-handedly, she defeated four of the Green Lantern Corps members in hand-to-hand combat.[8]

Hawkgirl carries a mace made of Nth metal, which could generate electric currents and repel magical energies. She was skilled at wielding and throwing the mace accurately. She had creatively used to use the mace as a shield to deflect incoming projectiles as well as a makeshift defibrillator unit.[17]

Despite her short fuse and often brutal M.O., Hawkgirl has a keen mind, as she regularly defeated Batman at chess.[18]